By Ivan Israelstam, Chief Executive of Labour Law Management Consulting. He may be contacted on (011) 888-7944 or 0828522973 or at the e-mail address: ivan@labourlawadvice.co.za. Go to: www.labourlawadvice.co.za
Employees are vulnerable to abuse of all types by their seniors, clients and other ‘protected species’. This is particularly so in workplaces where service providers or senior employees have critical skills. While many employers do protect their employees from bullying and similar mistreatment, other employers prefer to close their eyes when highly valued human assets are the culprits. In such workplaces powerful people may get away with bullying, assaulting, sexually harassing, and verbally abusing employees who a regarded as ‘expendable’.
The labour laws that were introduced in 1996 contain many protections for vulnerable employees. However, they do contain some gaps. For example, the Labour Relations Act does not specifically ban employers from physically or emotionally abusing employees. While the law does prohibit unfair discipline and harassment of employees, a claim for unfair discipline must show that the mistreatment was perpetrated in response to alleged employee misconduct or poor performance. And harassment must be linked to a specified ground such as race, gender or other arbitrary ground.
However, what if a senior employee or contractor mistreats a junior employee merely due to a feeling of dislike or bad temper? The labour statutes do not provide an avenue for redress except for providing that the employee can resign and claim constructive dismissal. However, such an employee might win the case but will have to sacrifice his/her employment.
The solution found by one employee was to circumvent the labour dispute system and go to the High Court. In the case of Tilana Louw vs Netcare and another (case number 3074/2016. 8 July 2024) the employee sued her employer for allowing a surgeon to abuse her verbally over a period of 11 years in the grossest fashion.
The employer did not deny the abuse but argued that it had conducted a grievance investigation, conducted meetings and had required the surgeon to apologise. The Court found that:
- The surgeon had verbally abused the employee over a period of 11 years.
- The employer had been informed of this.
- The employer had failed to halt the abuse.
- This resulted in the employee suffering severe trauma and having to undergo psychological therapy.
The Court therefore ordered the employer to pay the employee R300 000 in damages and to pay her legal costs.
In this case, the financial costs may well have been outweighed by the damage to the reputations of the respondents. The consequences of poor handling of grievances, especially serious ones, can be devastating. As a result, all employers need to train their managers in the right way to deal with employee abuse.
The innovative video series WALKING THE LABOUR LAW TIGHTROPE assists employers to provide their managers with very inexpensive training that allows the managers to achieve the necessary know-how at times suitable for their very busy schedules. Its 48 chapters, averaging 10 minutes in length each, can easily be watched at junctures when the manager has time. This greatly informative yet very engaging and practical video series provides crucial and user-friendly learning through the use of a stimulating, animated case study that runs throughout the 48-chapter series. Each chapter contains clear and important advice needed by workplace management on the basics of labour law over a very wide range of topics.
A further advantage is that the manager can, for a full year, easily go back to any of the 48 videos for purposes of refresher training or in order to access information on how to deal with a current workplace issue. This solves the problem of managers forgetting what they have learned.
This video series helps management to walk the shaky labour law tightrope and to run the workplace productively without falling into the labour law abyss.
To access our groundbreaking video series: WALKING THE NEW LABOUR LAW TIGHTROPE please go to www.labourlawvideos.co.za or contact Ivan on ivan@labourlawadvice.co.za
